Dáil debates
Tuesday, 14 October 2025
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
2:05 pm
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
A warm welcome to the visitors from Claregalway and the people from the United States. The ambassador is also most welcome. Cuirim fáilte rompu go léir.
More than a million households will be hit with big hikes in their electricity bills this month. This morning we have further proof of what we have been saying for a long time, that energy companies are brazenly ripping off customers in Ireland. Irish energy bills are three times higher than the wholesale cost. That is price gouging, plain and simple. It is a rip-off, plain and simple.
A new report from the International Energy Agency reveals that these companies are refusing to pass on the drop in wholesale price to their customers. Big energy companies are making bumper profits on the backs of working households, and hundreds of thousands of those already cannot afford to pay their bills. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael see this energy rip-off happening, but they stand back and do nothing. They refuse to take on the energy companies and they vote down our proposals to get energy costs under control. Worse still, in last week's budget, they removed energy credits from hard-pressed households. Their deference to the energy companies is, of course, in keeping with the terrible budget the Government announced last week, a budget that looks after those at the top and leaves ordinary workers worse off. That reality was confirmed by the ESRI on Friday.
The Taoiseach's suggestion at the weekend that people do not get the budget, that they need to look at it from a different angle, took some cheek. People do not have to bend over backwards to see what is staring them in the face: no break on their income tax, no increase in the renters' credit, no cut in childcare fees, no increase in child benefit and no cost-of-living package, but the Government could find the money for sweetheart tax breaks for developers, big landlords and the banks, while all its big election promises disappeared like snow off a ditch.
The budget was written as though the cost-of-living crisis was a thing of the past, but at the very time it was announced, households heard that they face the biggest price squeeze in 18 months. It is not just electricity. Households are hit with hikes in food prices, in their health insurance premiums, and instead of working to get costs down for households, the Government hiked up fuel prices, student fees and the local property tax. There is no end in sight. The Government knew all of this when it signed off on this budget. It knew that people would be hammered with big electricity bills and soaring prices, and yet it chose to abandon them anyway. Tá comhlachtaí fuinnimh ag feannadh teaghlaigh le hardaithe móra sna billí leictreachais. Thréig buiséad an Rialtais oibrithe an uair seo chun aire a thabhairt dóibh siúd atá ar bharr an dréimire.
Winter now approaches and people will leave their lights and heating on for longer. The rip-off bills they receive will be a body blow for families. The Government has done nothing to help pay one single bill or to ease the pressure on households. People have known for a long time that they are being gouged and ripped off on their energy bills. The Government now has further proof of that fact. Will the Taoiseach set out clearly what he will do to end this rip-off?
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Ní aontaím leis an Teachta in aon chor. Rinne an Rialtas an-chuid i mbuiséad na seachtaine seo caite, go háirithe chun cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine a bhfuil ag fulaingt faoi láthair. Admhaím go bhfuil costais mhaireachtála, go háirithe ó thaobh cúrsaí bia de, ag dul in airde. Thug an méid a rinneamar cabhair agus tacaíocht do na daoine is boichte agus na daoine atá ar na hioncaim is ísle sa tír. Níl aon amhras ach go ndearnamar sin.
When we look at the budget across the board, it focused on those on the lowest incomes and also on investing in public services and infrastructure.
All of us in society benefit from investment in infrastructure, in education services and special education services, in health services and in more housing. Housing is the biggest single issue facing us, and the budget puts extraordinary resources into housing on top of what was provided in the national development plan. Most young people, irrespective of where they are in the income brackets, want either to be able to afford a house to buy or to rent or, if their incomes are within a certain bracket, to get a social house. We provided enough resources for over 10,000 social houses to be built next year and additional social houses to be leased or acquired. That is the point I am making. I did not say anybody got it wrong or anything like that.
To come back to the ESRI, I would argue its methodology is somewhat flawed-----
2:10 pm
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Do we want a serious debate or not? Under the SWITCH model, if we index to inflation, the lowest income deciles benefit substantially more than anybody else, by up to 4% or 5%. If we index to wage growth, it is a different story. I am more into deprivation and consistent poverty-----
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Sorry, in terms of methodology, I am into arresting and dealing with those who are genuinely suffering from deprivation and consistent poverty, rather than the idea of relative poverty, which is a moveable feast, particularly with an economy that has been growing for ten years. We either have serious discussions about these things or we do not. The Deputy just goes herd-like after the latest headline. That is all she does. She latches onto the latest headline and off she goes. I can recall that during the energy crisis, the proposals she came up with would have undermined our financial credibility and would have been a boon to the oil companies and the fossil fuel companies.
Matt CarthyMicheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
She wanted to underpin them. If we keep on doing energy credits, where is the pressure on the companies?
Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The pressure is on families.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Deputy is suggesting that we keep bailing out the companies-----
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----and keep underpinning the gouging. If the companies think there is going to be €200, €500 or €1,000 every year, that will get factored in, without question.
Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
A bit like the help-to-buy for the property developers.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
What is important in terms of the energy companies is the more fundamental issue facing the market, which is the methodology by which the European Single Market works in terms of how prices are determined for gas and the margin of pricing or pay-as-clear system. That is the fundamental problem. The Minister has established a national group to look at the regulatory framework governing the pricing of energy. That has to happen in tandem with Europe. The Iberian peninsula did something on this because of the high proportion of renewables in their mix. We need more renewable energy, but in the interim we are totally reliant on the importation of gas - not totally but almost 80%.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is one of the fundamental issues because gas sets the price across Europe. That is the reality.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Tá a fhios ag gach duine nach bhfuil rud ar bith sa bhuiséad do dhaoine, teaghlaigh ná oibrithe atá ag fulaingt. Is í sin an fhírinne. I have asked a question about price gouging and ending the rip-off by energy companies. As usual, the Taoiseach has come up with nothing. His budget has made a bad situation worse for working people. I know he is not a great listener - God knows, his backbenchers know that all too well - but he might afford to the general public the courtesy of actually hearing what he is being told loudly and clearly: workers and families are struggling and struggling hard. The ESRI has confirmed that the Government has left them worse off after its budget. The specific issue I want to know from the Taoiseach is as regards energy costs, which are being hiked again and again. A rip-off is under way. Wholesale energy prices are down more than 70% since 2022. In countries all across Europe, that reduction is felt by consumers, but not here in Ireland. As the Government that took away energy credits, I want the Taoiseach to set out what it is doing to stop this gouging and to end this rip-off. Please answer that question.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We know that energy prices in Ireland are high. There are a number of factors. The fundamental factor is the broader regulatory framework that governs the pricing of energy, gas being the issue. Gas sets the price.
We are at a disadvantage in that respect, as we are in respect of the dispersed nature of our grid. We have the eighth highest electricity prices in the EU 27 when adjusted for purchasing power parity. That is where we are right now and the Minister has established a national energy affordability task force to deal with this issue and identify-----
2:20 pm
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Did the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, tell the Taoiseach that?
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
No, the ESRI used a different methodology from the one we used last week in terms of how we utilised the-----
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Rather than the Micheál methodology.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Deputy, please allow the answer.
Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
You are not poor; you are just not using the right methodology.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
This is well known.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is a strange methodology.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Deputy is clearly not listening. She interrupts all the time, as do her colleagues.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I always remember the Deputy's intervention during the energy crisis. It was the Liz Truss intervention.
Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
There is an energy crisis in homes now, Taoiseach.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Sinn Féin copied and pasted the Liz Truss intervention but thanks be to God we did not accept its proposals-----
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----because look at what happened to Prime Minister Truss and to the markets and everything else in the UK at the time.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
What is the Taoiseach doing to end the rip-off?
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Deputy Bacik of the Labour Party.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Cuirim fáilte roimh all the visitors in the Public Gallery and the Distinguished Visitors Gallery.
The Taoiseach just said that housing is the single biggest issue facing us. We all agree on that but I do not know whether the Taoiseach agrees that the housing system is broken. It has been commodified and marketised. The private rental sector is filling the gaps left by lengthy social housing lists. Far too many people are in homelessness and the Government has presided over an extraordinary failure and a significant shift. We have seen home ownership rates dropping and people in Ireland are now renting in far larger numbers, not by choice, but by necessity, yet the Government has failed to update the law to protect renters. The irony is that the private rental sector receives plenty of public money but it is through measures that do not address the root causes of the crisis. There was nothing in last week's budget to offer that radical reset of housing policy that is so badly needed.
With the rental accommodation scheme and housing assistance payments, the State has taken responsibility off itself for housing those who should be in social housing. We all know that in the private rental sector there are thousands of would-be social tenants and thousands of would-be home owners who lack substantial protections such as security of tenure, affordability of rent and the ability to make their homes their own. Renters have far too few rights in Ireland and the relationship with the landlord for far too many is defined by the existence of a toothless regulator and the threat of eviction, which is a very real threat, because tenants who pay their rent on time and comply with the terms of their leases can still be evicted if landlords need the property for a family member, to sell it, or if they purport to plan to sell it.
The very worst manifestation for renters of the lack of rights is the threat and reality of eviction. Landlords continue to possess the broad liberty to evict tenants for no good reason and evictions are driving homelessness. To stop evictions, the tenant in situ scheme was supposed to be the safety net, funding councils to buy properties if tenants were at risk of homelessness. The scheme has kept a roof over the heads of more than 2,500 households, but unfortunately, the Government is not sustaining it. Its funding is uncertain.
The Government is now saying it will legislate to require landlords to disclose the rate of rent they charge tenants. That is something for which we have called for many years. A renters' register was in the first Bill I introduced as a TD in this House in 2021, the renters' rights Bill, but we need to see more from the Taoiseach and the Government. In particular, we need to see them reintroduce a measure that worked to slow homelessness rates during the Covid-19 pandemic, the ban on no-fault evictions. Will the Taoiseach consider this winter, a ban at least on child evictions? More than 5,000 children are now homeless and we are at risk of normalising child homelessness.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Will the Government take a radical step to address this and prevent more children falling into homelessness and consider introducing a temporary eviction ban in cases where children are concerned?
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Government has responded to the Housing Commission. It has been asserted in public discourse that the Government ignored the Housing Commission in respect of the rental market.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I would argue that the Opposition has ignored the Housing Commission on rents because it clearly pointed to a reform of the rent pressure zones, RPZs. It said they were not fit for purpose and should not be allowed to continue. Once the Government and Minister came forward with reforms of the RPZs, balancing protections by making it full national coverage and other measures, there was a chorus of opposition from the Opposition-----
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
And from the Housing Commission.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----and a pretence that the Government had not looked at the Housing Commission's report at all. That happened.
The bottom line is supply.
Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is not what the Housing Commission said.
If you continue with eviction bans, rent freezes and all of that, you will depress suply. There is no doubt in my mind about that. If we keep doing judicial reviews, even against guidelines and regulations - the Deputy should not nod; these are the facts - that is paralysing the system. We want to get apartments built - different types, sizes and guidelines. The first resort of public representatives in the Labour Party, and other parties, is to go and do a judicial review, which will delay progress on that front by six or eight months. Everybody has identified the shortage of apartments as a key issue. The Government has moved through reform of the rent pressure zones, through changing the apartment guidelines and through the VAT cut, to try to get to a position where we narrow the viability gap so we get more apartments built. What do we face? We face judicial reviews and I do not think that is right. This is beginning to undermine the democratic voice in here because we are elected to do things and get things done but every step of the way, whether it is a wastewater treatment plant or infrastructure, there are judicial reviews and many of them are politically motivated.
From the Government’s perspective, we want supply, more supply and more supply. Housing supply numbers for 2025 in the second quarter, as the Deputy knows, were quite strong for that time of the year. There was a 35% increase year on year on the second quarter in 2024, a 20% increase for the year to date compared to 2024 and they are the strongest second quarter and half yearly figures since 2008.
2:30 pm
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
And it is still going to miss its target. That is brilliant.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is the bottom line. There is this refusal to acknowledge progress but we need to do much more than that. That is why the Government is doing everything it possibly can to get more houses built, get more apartments built -----
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Jesus, that is not answer for the people who cannot get a home. It is outrageous.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
----- both on the social housing level, affordable housing and generally across the situation and we will continue to do that.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Blah, blah, blah.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We brought in the rent credit, which is quite significant in itself and has been in terms of its impact.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Bacik.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I have listened carefuly to the Taoiseach's answer and every time I raise housing or the appalling and shocking figure of 5,000 children in homelessness with him, he engages in what I may describe as classic deflection tactics. Previously when I raised the failure to sustain the tenant in situ scheme, a scheme we welcomed, the Taoiseach blamed local authorities. Now he is blaming judicial reviews. The reality is the Taoiseach and his Government has to take responsibility for what is a housing disaster and what has become shamefully a normalisation of thousands of children who are in homelessness and many more thousands who are in overcrowded accommodation, with multiple generations of families under one roof, which I see it in my own constituency. There are young adults crammed into childhood bedrooms, sometimes with their own children, because they cannot find a home to buy or rent that is affordable. The Government has to take responsibility for this. Of course we have to acknowledge where there is progress. I have just acknowledged progress with more transparency on rent rates. We welcome that.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We welcomed that and we welcomed tenant in situ but I am asking the Taoiseach this again.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I am putting forward to him a constructive way to address the scourge of child homelessness and he has not answered that question.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I have. The Deputy has asked a range of questions, to be fair. On the homelessness question, the Minister is taking a different approach to the eviction ban because we believe the eviction ban will damage supply but what we can do in terms of homeless is have a very specific programme and an allocated resource. The Minister received €50 million earlier this year in respect of taking families out of homelessness and allocating social housing in a ring-fenced, specific way.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Minister is committed to doing that and he received additional resources in the budget to double down on that and to have a particularly focused programme in respect of children in homelessness. As the Deputy knows, people enter and exit homelessness on an ongoing basis.
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
They do under this Government.
Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is not normal.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The issue for us is to get families and children out of homelessness as quickly as possible. It is much more complex than has been articulated by the Deputy and others in this House.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Evictions are hugely important.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Homelessness is much more complex today, and the Deputy knows that.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That reply is obnoxious - people responsible for being homeless.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is why there will also be legislative changes to some aspects of what is going on as well
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Holly Cairns.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
This Government is clearly in panic mode. Its new housing plan was supposed to be published in July and there is still no sign of it. Instead, what we have seen is a succession of measures that all have one common feature: throwing more public money at developers in the desperate hope that the market will deliver.
We have been here before and we know how it ends - soaring house prices and rents and a broken housing system.
I am sure the Taoiseach does not need me to tell him that there is more disastrous news in housing today. Construction activity is down again, for the fifth time in a row. Just to be clear, the Government's target for 2025 is 41,000 homes. We are now halfway through October, so we have a pretty good idea of where it is going to go. According to the Central Bank, the Government is going to miss its housing targets again - this time by 8,500 homes.
People are sick of hearing the Taoiseach say that the Government's approach to housing is working despite every metric proving otherwise. At some point, this Government is going to have to face reality. Its housing policies have failed.
We need new thinking. The State needs to step up and deliver affordable homes. The State needs to radically change course, as its own Housing Commission recommended, because the fact of the matter is the Government's approach has not worked, it is not working now and it is not going to work.
Budget after budget, people in their twenties, thirties and forties are looking on, still in their childhood bedrooms, missing out on milestones, relationships, career opportunities, having a family, unable to plan their future or put down roots in a community - all while they look at headlines about record budget surpluses. The disconnect is just staggering.
People have been listening to Governments promising to address the housing disaster for more than a decade now, so I understand that many people out there just feel despair and hopelessness, but there are solutions. The Social Democrats have a huge range of policy proposals that could make a real difference, such as the homes for Ireland saving plan to use some of the €160 billion just sitting in deposit accounts earning no interest and our plan to build a modular homes factory to turbo charge the delivery of affordable homes, but instead of adopting them or even examining them, the Government will just plough on with the same old failed approach.
My question is: when is the Government going to publish its housing plan and is it planning to do anything different?
2:40 pm
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
First of all, I would reject completely the analysis of the Deputy. We have been listening to a lot of empty rhetoric on the side of the Opposition in respect of housing. As I said earlier, housing supply is not where we want it to be but it is significantly way up on where it was five years ago on an annual basis. In the second quarter of this year, there were very high figures - the highest since 2008. Now they need to be, and we need to get to 50,000 houses. The Deputy's savings plan is not going to do that this year, next year or the year after. Let us not pretend it would. There are factories out there in terms of modern methods of construction. I have visited them. Saying they would create a new factory for modular is not going to change the dial. They are out there. Modern methods of construction is now fully integrated into our house-building operations and we are continuing to work on that because it is an important dimension to housing.
The housing action plan will be published, certainly with the next five to six weeks.
Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
In the lifetime of the Government.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Of course we did not wait for the housing action plan. We have brought in a range of measures since the beginning of the year, most of which the Deputy has opposed, as she opposed most measures in respect of housing from the planning Act right through.
This budget allocates significantly more resources again on very substantial State investment in housing - a 20% increase in overall funding to housing. I heard Deputy Bacik talk about it having been "commodified and marketised". In the name of God, it is the State that is investing overwhelming in housing today.
Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is the developers. You just give it to the developers.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is the State is investing across abroad sweep of housing policies. What has to happen is that the State funding has to be balanced by private sector finance. I know the Deputy hates that. The Deputy has an instinctive ideological opposition to that, which I disagree with. Until we get a significant financial investment from the private sector in housing, we are not going to get to 50,000.
Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is to rent shoeboxes.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The State cannot sustainably finance on its own the building of 50,000 to 60,000 houses for the next decade, so strategy and policy must reflect the continuance of unprecedented Government investment but complemented and supplemented by private sector investment.
That is the clear strategic approach of Government. It is not panic mode or anything of the sort but it is relentless and it is focused. We are not going to be sidetracked by populist short-term declarations, announcements or soundbites that look good. Soundbites do not build houses. I am absolutely committed, along with the Minister and the entire Government, to dealing with the housing issue as a constant priority and that is reflected in the budget. Yes, we did not go down the income tax route or other routes. Why not? It is because we wanted a 20% increase in housing. We wanted a €50 capitation grant for primary schools, which makes a huge difference.
2:50 pm
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Answer the question, Taoiseach.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Thank you, Taoiseach. I call Deputy Cairns.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We want to build infrastructure, water and grid, which are central to housing. That is what enables us to build more houses.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Thank you, Taoiseach. The time is up.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Water, grid and public transport are the fundamental pieces of infrastructure that make house building possible.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Taoiseach, your time is up, thank you.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Taoiseach says he is not in panic mode but it does sound like he is panicking-----
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----and he is yet to answer my question on when the Government will produce its housing plan. It is still delayed.
There is acknowledging the role of the private sector, which we do, and then there is completely and utterly relying on it, which is what the Government does. The Government goes far beyond acknowledging the role of the private sector and goes to the extent of paying private developers to build luxury apartments it has already built. It is quite simply unbelievable. The dominance of private developers in the housing sector keeps housing prices high because, of course, they demand large profits. That is the nature of the private sector. To build affordable housing in Ireland we need to invest in State construction of housing. We need to build up the not-for-profit sector and we need to produce modular homes at scale. Without taking these steps, and acknowledging the Government's approach is not working, nothing will change. I acknowledge that soundbites do not build houses but the Taoiseach needs to acknowledge that the Government is not building enough houses.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Thank you, Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I will ask my question again: is the Government going to do anything different in this plan, and when will it produce it?
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
A total of €4 billion alone in current expenditure is being provided for housing for 2026. This is an increase of €600 million. Key elements of this will go to homeless services-----
Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
More emergency accommodation.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----to ensure that local authorities can provide emergency accommodation. Well, it has to be done. For God's sake, we have to provide it.
Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Because the Government is causing-----
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Allow the answer. One voice please.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Deputy would be very first guy condemning us if we did not.
Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Government took away the eviction ban.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
There are homeless prevention measures, tenancy sustainment measures and so on, and enabling people to exit emergency accommodation as quickly as possible. We will fund over 5,000 new homes under the social housing current expenditure programme. We continue to support over 40,000 existing homes under the scheme. There is €470 million to support an additional 7,000 new tenancies. At present there are 50,000 tenants. There are significant numbers moving to more permanent social housing. Over 28,000 transfers to other forms of social housing have taken place. Then we have the rental accommodation scheme. In terms of capital, under the NDP well over €7 billion is allocated capital to housing.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is not a soundbite or rhetoric. That is unprecedented investment in housing and that is reflected this year as well.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We now move to Deputy Paul Murphy.
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Irish households are being ripped off by electricity companies. That is not just how they feel about it; that is a fact. We have it black and white from the International Energy Agency and I quote its report, which states the disparity in Ireland, talking about the gap between wholesale electricity prices and retail prices, was the largest in all of Europe, with the energy component of retail prices three times higher than wholesale prices. In plain language, the reason we have the highest electricity prices in Europe is electricity companies are engaged in blatant profiteering off of the backs of ordinary people. SSE Airtricity declared profits of €113 million to the end of March 2025; Energia; €33 million for the first quarter alone; and Bord Gáis; €39 million in the first half of this year. I could go on. The cost of their profits is a crisis for households, one in three of whom is now in energy poverty. Those families are facing a cold, long, dark winter. They are facing electricity companies that, one after the other, have hiked their prices in recent weeks. Their worry is confounded by failure of the Government to do anything in last week's budget to protect them. The economists are very clear.
The Government's budget will lead to an increase in poverty, particularly for older people and renters, who are more likely to suffer from energy poverty in poorly insulated homes. There are to be no energy credits despite the fact that people's bills are higher now than they were last year. There are to be no price controls to stop what I think the Taoiseach described earlier as price gouging. There is to be no significant investment in the retrofitting we need to give people warmer homes and much reduced bills. There is also to be no change from the policy of households subsidising the data centres of the big tech companies. Households are paying for their hundreds of millions of euro worth of so-called capacity payments.
The fundamental root of all of this is the so-called liberalisation of the energy market, the artificial creation of a market in which we must pay for the profit of all of these different corporations. We have moved from the ESB being the sole publicly owned not-for-profit generator and supplier of electricity, the global success of the ground-breaking rural electrification scheme, which became a model around the world, and the lowest electricity prices in Europe to having the highest prices in Europe because of the neoliberal orthodoxy of the 1990s and 2000s, which meant that anything State-owned had to be broken up and privatised. This process should be reversed. We should renationalise the electricity market on a not-for-profit basis.
Earlier, the Taoiseach asked what we are going to do to put pressure on the energy companies to lower prices. That is my question to him. Will he introduce price controls as proposed in our Emergency Price Controls Bill, something he has the power to do under the Consumer Protection Act? At the very least, will he reverse course on the energy credits and give people something to protect them?
3:00 pm
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It is quite interesting that a representative of a far-left party like Deputy Murphy is an advocate for universal credits, which benefit the wealthiest in society as well as everybody else. That is quite an extraordinary contradiction of the viewpoints he often articulates. The Minister has established a national energy affordability task force because there is an issue with energy affordability. That is acknowledged.
The Deputy has made the point that he would get rid of the regulatory framework and renationalise our energy system. There is no guarantee that such a renationalisation would deliver cheaper prices. We should not pretend that it would because we have to invest an enormous amount into expanding our grid and making sure it is fit for purpose for a growing economy and a growing population. The population is growing exponentially. We have had extraordinary economic growth over a long period of time. Contrary to most established economic norms, we have managed to maintain or marginally reduce levels of income inequality in this country thanks to our progressive taxation system. Having said that, this has had impacts on other areas. The Minister has met with the companies. We have focused our work on trying to protect those most affected by energy price increases. Addressing energy affordability is key for us.
The Deputy said there was nothing in the budget. Historically, a VAT rate of 13.5% has been applied to gas and electricity. Since 2022, we have reduced that to 9%. Budget 2026 extended this reduction to the end of 2030. If we had not done that, it would have meant significant increases in the price of electricity and gas. The fuel allowance has gone up to €38 per week, an increase of more than 15%. This will provide an additional €140 to more than 460,000 recipients during the annual fuel allowance season. That payment has been extended and expanded to include those in receipt of the working family payment. Targeting our resources at those most in need makes sense. In addition, our retrofitting programme has been quite impactful, reducing many households' energy bills. More than €500 million has been allocated for residential and community energy schemes. Some €280 million has been allocated to the warmer homes scheme in particular. This provides free retrofits to households in energy poverty. In 2024, this facilitated nearly 8,000 energy upgrades in low-income households.
During the height of the energy crisis, we did, as the Deputy mentioned, provide energy credits but, to maintain sustainable public finances, it makes sense to target resources at those who would be most impacted through retrofitting and warmer homes programmes. The Minister is working with the companies to make sure that no one is cut off and that hardship funds are in place to help people who could get into difficulty as a result of increased energy prices.
3:05 pm
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Earlier the Taoiseach posed the question as to what we were proposing to do to pressurise the energy companies to lower their costs. We have a Bill already to have price controls to stop the blatant profiteering. I put it back to the Taoiseach: what is he going to do? The answer, it appears, is "Nothing".
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
That is not true.
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context
He mentioned a bunch of things that have already been done. He is standing over the withdrawal of the cost-of-living supports, the impact of which will be deeper poverty. The budget was spoken about as a budget for child poverty. It absolutely was a budget for child poverty - increased child poverty. The Taoiseach should look at the report of the Parliamentary Budget Office, an impartial office, which states that income poverty rates nationally will have risen from 11.7% in 2024 to a forecast level of 13.2% in 2026 due to the withdrawal of the cost-of-living package. Income poverty rates will have risen most for the elderly, from 13.3% in 2024 to a forecast level of 19%. Child poverty will also increase. The Taoiseach's budget increased poverty in this State. We have evidence now that people are being ripped off by the energy companies, which are charging three times what they are paying for the electricity-----
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I thank the Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----and the Taoiseach is saying we will do nothing about it and we will not have price controls.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Deputy is out of order and way over time.
Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
Link to this: Individually | In context
He has power, under the Consumer Protection Act, to introduce price controls to stop this profiteering and people want him to act.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
The Taoiseach to respond. Deputy Murphy is out of order.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We will not be introducing price controls. They failed in the past and would fail again.
In terms of child poverty, consistent poverty is the key metric, not relative poverty. The Deputy did not qualify which he was talking about.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context
So poverty is okay.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
Consistent poverty is what we have to deal with. Our child poverty programme in the budget was very significant, the highest in a very long time. The once-off payments were just that, for two years in a row and before that. During the Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, we had to intervene. They not sustainable over the decade and they cannot just keep going on. We would not have sustainable public finances if we went down that route. Equally, it is arguable that very wealthy people do not need an energy credit. The Deputy is arguing that they do. I find that incredible.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
We do tax them. We have a very progressive tax system-----
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----which basically means income inequality has reduced despite very significant, strong economic growth. We believe in enterprise; the Deputy does not. He has a broader view of how markets and economies should run-----
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
-----and that is fundamental to every specific proposal he introduces on a given issue in here.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
It has to be seen in the round in terms of what kind of society we want.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I thank the Taoiseach. His time is up.
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context
I respectfully suggest that the people do not quite want the society the Deputy advocates.